Residents on Farm Road are guardedly optimistic that a water retention system recently approved by the Planning Board will improve ongoing flooding in their yards – a problem they blame on new residential development in the area.
The underground water retention system will be installed by Mardamer Builders, a private developer that is in the process of building Secaucus Commons, a 10-unit condo development on Paterson Plank Road and Keys Leader Landing.
Thus far, Farm Road residents have nervously eyed Secaucus Commons because they believed it would exacerbate the flooding from an existing residential development, the Riverview Garden Apartments, which they say drains into their yards.
“I’m pleased that this will be taken care of.” – Danielle Balderacchi
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Water sources
Town officials say the flooding on Farm Road can largely be blamed on drainage problems from Riverview Gardens. According to Secaucus Town Administrator David Drumeler, underground pipes that were installed in the 1970s at the apartment complex were not done properly.
“The infrastructure there has slowly eroded over time,” said Drumeler. “Flooding from Riverview was supposed to go directly into the river, but instead it drains onto Farm Road, then goes out to the river.”
Balderacchi, who now owns the house that her grandmother lived in for 30 years, said the family yard never used to flood the way it does now.
“Growing up we didn’t have this problem,” she said. “My grandmother had a dog pen in the backyard. Sometimes she would get a little bit of water. But not flooding like it does now. I wouldn’t be able to have a dog pen. I lose a lot of property to water in the backyard when we have heavy rains.”
Runoff from Riverview Gardens is made worse, residents say, by a broken tidal gate that fails to hold back water from the Hackensack River after major rain storms.
“It’s been broken for 25 years!” exclaimed John Delaney, another Farm Road resident, last week. “When we have exceptionally high tides, the water gets backed up, the tide backs up onto the property. We shouldn’t build without having a place to drain all the water. The Riverview apartments were built and at least part of the flooding from [that development] drains onto Farm Road. Now we have [Secaucus Commons] being built, and the problem still hasn’t been taken care of yet.”
Remedies
The town had planned to build a new, small pumping station near Farm Road similar to the one that currently operates on Golden Avenue. PMK Group, the town’s former engineering firm, had initially estimated the pumping station could be built for $70,000 to $90,000. But then, according to Drumeler, “The engineers discovered that the water going into that area was about 10 times more than they expected it to be. Hence, we would need a bigger pump and the cost went from the $70,000 to $90,000 range to about $750,000 to $900,000, which we can’t afford.”
Although Drumeler said the town still plans to apply for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fund the pumping station, for now the underground water retention system approved by the Planning Board will have to suffice.
There is a similar flood mitigation system at the Recreation Center on Koelle Blvd. Essentially, flood water gets collected in a series of underground pipes. The water remains in the pipes until it can be safely discharged without creating problems.
Mario Ferrao, a principal in Secaucus Commons LLC, has agreed to build and maintain the water retention system at his company’s expense. The water retention pipes will be installed beneath a planned parking lot at the development.
Although the retention system won’t address flooding from Riverview Gardens, it will, Drumeler said, help alleviate some of the flooding on Farm Road.
“I’m pleased that this will be taken care of,” Balderacchi said. “The plans accepted [by the Planning Board] should resolve some of the residents’ issues regarding that property.”
The board also approved a plan to repair the tidal gate.
“They’ve made so many mistakes,” Delaney said. “I think going forward, if they eventually build the pumping station, everything will be alleviated.”
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.